tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76582812008602642912011-08-02T21:36:30.556+01:00James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-27407848802082868242010-04-14T00:46:00.000+01:002010-04-14T00:46:18.720+01:00

There has been an amusing little spat going on at the MediaGuardian website, in comments beneath the blog of former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade, now a media commentator. Roy set up his soap box to lay into unnamed tabloid reporters who, it is claimed, used methods unknown to allegedly tap into a live phone conversation involving a model called Vanessa Perroncel, who is the ex-girlfriend

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-91142088277205297042010-03-30T21:57:00.000+01:002010-03-30T21:57:01.860+01:00

I'm having trouble deciding something of the utmost importance. Who is the most stupid commenter on the Internet? There's plenty to choose from. For example: ltilbs (9 months ago)   0  Reply | Spamupon checking there is no other william wallace in the british isle's so you can try to brag off his name ( sad case ) but my uncle with NEVER do a scotish version +1  Reply | Spammchaggis73 (1

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-14413011646833314222010-03-04T20:54:00.002Z2010-03-06T00:14:05.614Z

I've been tempted to post something before on metaphor, but it's such a big subject. I mean, it's like trying to tackle a topic like 'people'. Or 'writing'. Anyway, I was prompted to have a go after reading Esther Freud, quoted in the Guardian, about the rules of writing. She decried the use of metaphors and similes in novels. Her first rule of writing is: 'Cut out the metaphors and similes. In

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-23655221452112518872010-02-11T23:27:00.000Z2010-02-11T23:27:51.841Z

For those brilliantly bizarre, stupid, funny, or just punny, headlines that deserve to be remembered. Number one: Who do you trust more: Alastair Campbell or Peter Andre?

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-42152493739372193702010-02-11T23:12:00.000Z2010-02-11T23:12:50.847Z

They have been married twice, split twenty times, He's gone back to his ex-wife eight times, the ex has been over him three times, and she’s been pining for him sixteen times… Meanwhile she was pregnant with his baby last August. Except she doesn't seem to be. And he refused to have any more kids with her, just five months before their twins were born. He started to turn to drink last

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-52742190482927307002010-02-06T01:06:00.000Z2010-02-06T01:06:31.410Z

Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay! The greatest radio programme to grace the airwaves for the last decade now has a complete online archive of its shows. No, not I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (although at some point I might open a game of Mornington Crescent around here), but Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/archive/ More than 400 programmes, most of

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-24847702737717235492010-01-31T23:41:00.000Z2010-01-31T23:41:43.353Z

Why? Seriously, I'm at a complete loss. Not as warm as socks, not as body-shaping as tights, not as sexy as stockings. Yet extremely popular, it seems. I'm not sure if I'd actually want anyone to explain the appeal to me. I don't normally have strong feelings about apparel, but this is the exception with the ability to induce nausea.

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-90067511888341771322010-01-25T20:35:00.000Z2010-01-25T20:35:01.434Z

Yeah, yeah, okay, so it's been a week. I couldn't think of anything to say. Mainly because I've been wrapped up in reading a book: Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, which won the Booker Prize this year. Last year, I mean. But what makes it noteworthy is this is the first book I've read electronically, and the experience was interestingly different to reading a paperback. Firstly, a note on the

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-1466255795742856292010-01-18T16:39:00.000Z2010-01-18T16:39:35.282Z

You have the Director's Cut, deleted scenes and other content on movie DVDs to persuade you to buy them -- so why not take the same approach with books? The Author's Edit. To a certain extent, they already do, I suppose. In the case of William Shakespeare, academics regularly refer to different editions of his plays. Jane Austen's drafts are subjected to textual analysis. I managed to read

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-32925261046908693962010-01-18T14:32:00.000Z2010-01-18T14:32:47.867Z

Also known as an Arvon retreat. The delightful people at the Arvon Foundation have just sent me a cataloguelet of this year's courses. If my experience last year is anything to go by, several weeks will have already been booked up. I suspect that anyone want to see Man Booker Prizer winner Hilary Mantel do a guest spot at a writing weekend or Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy talk about writing

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-5928811551357166992010-01-14T00:17:00.000Z2010-01-14T00:17:01.769Z

Mo Mentum. The big Mo. Mo-ving a-head. Mo-mo-mo-mo. NanowriMO. Mooooo. I like to Mo it, Mo it. Mo Mowlam. Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La-La and Mo. One man went to Mo, went to Mo a manuscript. Mo' Writer Blues. Mo, mo, mo your pen, gently down the page. Nope, ain't got none. I'm definitely in slow mo right now. What I need is this:

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-45586393956427012442010-01-08T23:29:00.003Z2010-01-08T23:31:05.088Z

I think I might write a story about Twitter with 140 characters in it. http://twitter.com/twistedfluff Nah. Can't be bothered.

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-76092232392590370492010-01-04T21:15:00.000Z2010-01-04T21:15:57.213Z

There is a school of thought that self-improvement is a euphemism for onanism, and that lifelong learning was just a nice mid-Nineties slogan for the Blair government. However, anyone who has been outside the educational establishment for more than a decade, like myself, may recognise the occasional desire to learn something important they didn't know about before. I have been turning to the

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-13903265429189503642010-01-02T13:34:00.002Z2010-01-02T13:37:11.791Z

In an attempt to sate my growing appetite for archaisms, I thought I'd investigate further the meaning of 'lerry-come-twang'. I picked up the term from a publication by John Taylor, the water-poet, who was a poet and writer of the early 17th century, as well as being a waterman, ferrying passengers across the Thames in London. He wrote something called 'A Kicksey-Winsey, or lerry-come-twang'

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-66091371168551004782009-12-28T00:18:00.001Z2009-12-28T14:11:04.085Z

It's a long time until Spring is here. However, that doesn't stop us looking forward to it: When they see us coming, the birdies all try and hide. But they still go for peanuts, when coated with cyanide. Click the link for one of Tom Lehrer's best songs.

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-56943900950173425032009-12-27T00:25:00.000Z2009-12-27T00:25:14.248Z

It seems like a fearful indulgence to blog twice in the same day, but I happened upon this email, forwarded to me by a friend (shhhh! You know who!) who was wondering whether or not he (or she, of course, might be a she, this friend of mine, not a he, definitely not, oh no) should respond. Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:19:41 -0700 (PDT) From: samuel eze Subject: FROM GODS LOVE BIBLE MINISTRY,

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-24465971412347462272009-12-26T19:08:00.001Z2009-12-26T19:09:59.094Z

Oh dear. On Monday, 21 December, a news agency report identified briefly online the wrong Martyn Smith in an article entitled “Dragons’ Den Creator Martyn Smith narrowly escapes jail after downloading ‘quite unspeakable’ child porn”. We mistakenly stated that the BBC producer behind Dragon’s Den had been convicted of having 1,410 repulsive child porn images. He had not. The news agency and

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-48559836327061911562009-12-24T00:41:00.001Z2009-12-24T00:42:57.832Z

Meet Henry IX of England. Except, as we know, he didn't make it to the throne. His younger brother, Charles, eventually succeeded Henry's father, King James I of England and King James VI of Scotland, known chiefly for almost being blown up, having two titles and having a Bible named after him. Henry was his eldest son, and developed his own court of London's wittiest men: Ben Johnson, Inigo

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-56414920591106320132009-10-21T01:37:00.000+01:002009-10-21T01:37:41.478+01:00

The 17th Century. It was the accusation levelled against the Earl and Countess of Somerset that they poisoned Sir Thomas Overbury. A lot has been written about this, elsewhere, but I thought it might be good to look at some source material. http://www.archive.org/stream/calendarofstatep09greauoft#page/317/mode/1up Today on October 21, 1616: King James I ordered his investigators to examine

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-6013773711849888122009-10-19T23:37:00.000+01:002009-10-19T23:37:51.743+01:00

and other words for 'Vagabond' may be found here: http://libra.englang.arts.gla.ac.uk/historicalthesaurus/synonym2.php?groupx=03.05.00.05.02.01.&part=n&sub=06.01.%20%20.%20%20.&head=%28..good-for-nothing%20person%29&word=slubberdegullion

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-67511187329756587302009-10-15T20:38:00.001+01:002009-10-16T00:00:17.520+01:00

It was a popular pastime in the 17th Century among gentlemen to write profiles of particular types of character that would be described today as snarky. Here are some from an excellent but apparently defunct site called eudaemonist http://www.eudaemonist.com/biblion/microcosmography A Handsome HostessIs the fairer commendation of an inn, above the fair sign, or fair lodgings. She is the

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-57955932070311177062009-10-14T11:04:00.000+01:002009-10-14T21:02:07.390+01:00

Well, it didn't exist in Spain. In England, Wales and Scotland, they carried right along with it and didn't want to put up with the Papist nonsense of losing 10 days just to correct the calendar. Pope Gregory XIII, to recap, decided to realign the calendar with the seasons because it was getting out of synch with the true Earth year. The previous calendar, the Julian calendar (introduced by

James Corneliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330517858292435029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658281200860264291.post-11753525037224856212009-10-13T10:43:00.000+01:002009-10-13T10:53:05.095+01:00

Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to Bertie Wooster:"That's true," said Corky. "Sam Patterson would do it for a hundred dollars. He writes a novelette, three short stories, and ten thousand words of a serial for one of the all-fiction magazines under different names every month. A little thing like this would be nothing to him. I'll get after him right away." "

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